Menu

Protest: NHS OUT OF TTIP

The People's NHS will hold a major protest outside Sheffield Town Hall against the EU-USA trade deal that means irreversible privatisation of the NHS. Protestors will spin a giant 'wheel of misfortune' to signify how the government is gambling with the NHS because of its support for TTIP.TTIP is an EU-USA trade deal being negotiated behind closed doors, between EU bureaucrats and delegates from the United States. It is the largest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated and threatens to make privatisation of the NHS irreversible by giving the profits of corporations' precedence over national lawmakers. TTIP would grant American multinationals, or any firm with American investors, the power to sue the government if it ever attempted to take privatised health services back into public ownership.Alison Brown, from Sheffield Save Our NHS, said: "The Conservative government does not have a mandate to allow the sell-off of the NHS to become permanent."Labour's five Sheffield MPs have backed the protest and signed a petition calling for the protection of the NHS from TTIP, including Louise Haigh who will speak at the demonstration. Nick Clegg, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, is the only Sheffield MP to refuse to back the People's NHS call to protect the NHS from TTIP. There are over 2,500 signatures on a petition calling for the NHS to be excluded from TTIP and 1,395 Sheffield residents have written letters to Nick Clegg expressing concerns over the NHS and TTIP. Despite receiving the letters in May, Nick Clegg has not responded to one letter.